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LENNY’S RED-LETTER DAY - Bernard Ashley Lenny Fraser is a boy in my class. Well, he’s a boy in my class when he comes. But to tell the truth, he doesn’t come very often. He stays away from school for a week at a time, and I’ll tell you where he is. He’s at the shops, stealing things sometimes, but mainly just opening the doors for people. He does it to keep himself warm. I’ve seen him in our shop. When he opens the door for someone, he stands around inside till he gets sent out. Of course, it’s quite warm enough in school, but he hates coming. He’s always got long, tangled hair, not very clean, and his clothes are too big or too small, and they call him “Fleabag.” He sits at a desk without a partner, and no one wants to hold his hand in games. All right, they’re not to blame; but he isn’t, either. His mother never gets up in the morning, and his house is dirty. It’s a house that everybody runs past very quickly. Lenny makes me laugh a lot. In the playground, he’s always saying funny things out of the corner of his mouth. He doesn’t smile when he does it. He says these funny things as if he’s complaining. For example, when Mr. Cox, the deputy head, came to school in his new car, Lenny came too that day; but he didn’t join in all the admiration. He looked at the little car and said to me, “Anyone missing a skateboard?” He misses all the really good things, though – the School Journeys and the outings. And it was a big shame about his birthday. It happens like this with birthdays in our class. Miss Blake lets everyone bring their cards and perhaps a small present to show the others. Then everyone sings “Happy Birthday” and we give them bumps in the playground. If people can’t bring a present, they tell everyone what they've got instead. I happen to know some people make up the things that they’ve got just to be up with the others, but Miss Blake says it’s good to share our Red-Letter Days.

I didn’t know about these Red-Letter Days before. I thought they were something special in the post, like my dad handles in his Post Ofﬁce in the shop. But Miss Blake told us they are red printed words in the prayer books, meaning special days. Well, what I’m telling you is that Lenny came to school on his birthday this year. Of course, he didn’t tell us it was his birthday, and, as it all worked out, it would have been better if Miss Blake hadn’t noticed it in the register. But, “How nice! " she said. “Lenny’s here on his birthday. and we can share it with him.” It wasn’t very nice for Lenny. He didn’t have any cards to show the class, and he couldn’t think of a birthday present to tell us about. He couldn‘t even think of anything funny to say out of the corner of his mouth. He just had to stand there looking foolish until Miss Blake started the singing of “Happy Birthday” – and then half the people didn’t bother to sing it. I felt very sorry for him I can tell you. But that wasn’t the worst. The worst happened in the playground. I went to take his head end for bumps, and no one would come and take his feet. They all walked away. I had to finish up just patting him on the head with my hands, and before I knew what was coming out I was telling him, “You can come home for tea with me, for your birthday. ”And he said, yes, he would come. My father works very hard in the Post Office, in a corner of our shop; and my mother stands at the door all day, where people pay for their groceries. When I get home from school, I carry cardboard boxes out to the yard and jump on them, or my big sister Nalini show me which shelves to fill and I ﬁll them with jam or chapatis - or birthday cards. On this day though, I thought I’d use my key to go in through the side door and take Lenny straight upstairs – then hurry down again and tell my mum and dad that I’ve got a friend in for an hour. I thought, I can get a birthday card and some cake and ice cream from the shop, and Lenny can go home before they come upstairs. I wanted him to do that before my dad saw who it was, because he knows Lenny from his hanging around the shops.

Lenny said some funny things on the way home from school, but you know, I couldn't relax and enjoy them properly. I felt ashamed because I was wishing all the time that I hadn’t asked him to come home with me. The bottoms of his trousers dragged along the ground, he had no buttons on his shirt so the sleeves ﬂapped, and his hair must have made it hard for him to see where he was going. I was in luck because the shop was very busy. My dad had a queue of people to pay out, and my mum had a crowd at the till. I left Lenny in the living room and I went down to get what I wanted from the shop. I found him a birthday card with a badge in it. When I came back, he was sitting in a chair and the television was switched on. He’s a good one at helping himself. I thought. We watched some cartoons and then we played Monopoly, which Lenny had seen on the shelf. We had some crisps and cakes and lemonade while we were playing; but I had only one eye on my Monopoly moves - the other eye was on the clock all the time. I was getting very impatient for the game to finish, because it looked as if Lenny would still be there when they came up from the shop. I did some really bad moves so that I could lose quickly, but it’s very difficult to hurry up Monopoly, as you may know. In the end I did such stupid things – like buying too many houses and selling Park Lane and Mayfair - that he won the game. He must have noticed what I was doing, but he didn’t say anything to me. Hurriedly, I gave him his birthday card. He pretended not to take very much notice of it, but he put it in his shirt, and kept feeling it to make sure it was still there. At least, that’s what I thought he was making sure about, there inside his shirt. It was just the right time to say goodbye, and I’m just thinking he can go without anyone seeing him, when my sister came in. She had run up from the shop for something or other, and she put her head inside the room. At some other time, I would have laughed out loud at her stupid face. When she saw Lenny, she looked as if she’d opened the door and seen something really unpleasant. I could gladly have given her a

good kick. She shut the door a lot quicker than she opened it, and I felt really bad about it. “Nice to meet you,” Lenny joked, but his face said he wanted to go, too, and I wasn’t going to be the one to stop him. I let him out, and I heaved a big sigh. I felt good about being kind to him, the way you do when you’ve done a sponsored swim, and I’d done it without my mum and dad frowning at me about who I brought home. Only Nalini had seen him, and everyone knows she can make things seem worse than they are. I washed the glasses, and I can remember singing while I stood at the sink. I was feeling very pleased with myself. My good feeling lasted about fifteen minutes; just long enough to be wearing off slightly. Then Nalini came in again and destroyed it altogether. “Prakash, have you seen that envelope that was on the television top?” she asked. “I put it on here when I came in from school.” “No,” I said. It was very soon to be getting worried, but things inside me were turning over like clothes in a washing machine. I knew already where all this was going to end up. “What was in it?” My voice sounded to me as if it was coming from a great distance. She was looking everywhere in the room, but she kept coming back to the television top as if the envelope would mysteriously appear there. She stood there now, staring at me. “What was in it? What was in it was only a Postal Order for five pounds! Money for my school trip!” “What does it look like?” I asked, but I think we both knew that I was only stalling. We both knew where it had gone. “It’s a white piece of paper in a brown envelope. It says ‘Postal Order’ on it, in red.”

Lenny's Red Letter Day Full Text 5C

1.
LENNY’s RED—LETTER DAY
Bernard A5/7/ey
—~'—
-‘ _A'enny Fraser is a boy in my class. Well, he’s a boy in
my class when he comes. But to tell the truth, he doesn’t
come very often. He stays away from school for a week at
a time, and I’ll tell you where heis. He’s at the shops,
stealing things sometimes, but mainly just opening the
doors for people. He does it to keep himself warm. I’ve
seen him in our shop. When he opens the door for
someone, he stands around inside till he gets sent out.
Of course, it’s quite warm enough in school, but he hates
coming. He’s always got long, tangled hair, not very
clean, and his clothes are too big or too small, and they
call him “Fleabag. ” He sits at a desk without a partner,
and no one wants to hold his hand in games. All right,
tl1ey’re not to blame; but he isn’t, either. His mother
never gets up in the morning, and his house is dirty. It’s a
house that everybody runs past very quickly.

2.
Hm lmmy makes me laugh a lot. In the playground,
. :lw; :ys saying funny things out of the corner of NS
flwillfli. He doesn’t smile when he does it. He says th€5¢’
lunny things as if he’s complaining. For example, when
Mr: ( jnx the deputy head came to school in his new car,
l. f;‘lil‘l}/ tranre that day; but he didn’t join in all the
mltiiirzttion. He looked at the little car and said to me,
“/ lmyrme missing a skateboard? ” a
l'‘' ll rliv l”<_‘é. llly good things, 'tlmuf; l'1---file
Selirytrl journeys and the outing. And it was .1 big *~. lv= ﬁi‘«“
ztimui his biitliday. 0
it happens like this with birthdays in our class. Miss
Blake lets everyone bring their cards and perhaps a small
present to show the others. Then everyone sings “Happy
Birthday” and we give them bumps in the playground.
if people can’t bring a present, they tell everyone what
they've got instead. I happen to know some people make
up the things that they’ve got just to be up with the
others, but Miss Blake says it’s good to share our
l'led»l. .ette1' Days.
I didn’t know about these Red-Letter Days before.
l thought they were something special in the post, like
my dad handles in his Post Ofﬁce in the shop. But Miss
Blake told us they are red printed words in the prayer
liytmlraz, meaning special days.
G "4 W’/ ell, ;/ l: »t l’m trolling you is that Lenny crime to
‘ﬁnal hi“. birthday this year. Of course, he didn’t tell
l. “ ‘ iii l“»ixilH. l;! y., ;m(. l. ‘.18 it all Wm‘l(tCl 0111‘. it would
have heen better if Miss Blake hadn’t noticed it in the
l, .

3.
ri Oi. ‘[c‘i‘. But, “How nice! " she said. “l. ,ennys lwre on lm
birthday. and we can share it with him.
I
O to :2: ‘T r '. 0. .1»: *«H>’
I‘: -~. ~ . ” . He couldn‘t even think ol
anything Funny to say out of the corner 0!‘ his mouth. He
‘ _ q . D‘ “
just had to stand there looking foolish tiutwl ‘- i*l ‘I C
SE31; Cl Th? (7Ic“II_““ I“‘11.l". (""“ ‘iilil ii? -. ll ll
the _T‘enT‘lc r': iHie1’: ' l‘~u. "1.’ 5+‘ i. I lielf ’<‘l'V SOTW R”
5a‘
him I can tell you. But that wasn’t the worst. the worst
happened in the Playground. I ‘~. t1‘. . it‘ . .:‘s. hi». ll. .7&l . ml 0
For bumps. and no one would come and take his Feet.
They all walked away. I had to finish up just patting him
on the head with my hands, and before I knew what was
coming out I was telling him, “YOU Gin (CW1. Ilkllliklii)
tea with me, For jvour birthday. ” And he said, yes, he
would come.
My father works very hard in the Post Office, in a
corner of our shop; and my mother stands at the door all
day, where people pay for their groceries. When I get
home from school, I carry cardboard boxes out to the
yard and jump on them, or my big 5l§»'i, t‘I‘ }l.1lini slumps
any: which shelve-s to fill mid I ﬁll them Will) jim or
Cl1:(l). ifgl§' -or birthday cards. On this day thou h I
‘h°”8l“ Pd “Se ml’ ke" “ml 80 in through the sid gel , H
‘ ' c oor
. 'm(l i. ll': ‘x I, t‘Illl’ . ll.1l£’l1l u 3 1‘
and tell m I d iii M5 then hurry down again
mum an “ , _ I
Y a that l tl got .1 ll1L. ‘llLl in mi‘ an
lw-ur Ithou ht I '
V _ . Cl‘ {,3 ‘ ' g .
H g » in _tt '1 brrthclru t. ml and with t.1l(CD
and it it cm limli Lliv sl
10p, and Lenny o. ..J.11 go lion]. .-

4.
before they come upstairs. I wanted him to do thrt
before my dad saw who it was, because he knows Lermv
from his hanging around the shops.
Lenny said some funny things on the way home from
school. but you know, I couldn't relax and enjoy them
properly. I iclt aslmixxed bccaust I ~: r-. -i= h?. .-av all the
Hills. that l l1‘. lLllliL ‘: l{(l him to t‘<w‘~. ; l‘ '; "“" “<-
The bottoms of his trousers dragged along the ground.
he had no buttons on his shirt so the sleeves ﬂapped,
and his hair must have made it hard for him to see
where he was going.
I was in luck because the shop was very busy. My dad
had a age of people to pay out, and my mum had
a crowd at the I left Lenny in the living room and
I went down to get what I wanted from the shop. I
found him a birthday card with a badge in it. When
I came back, he was sitting in a chair and the television
was switched on. He’s a good one at helping himself.
I thought. We watched some cartoons and then we
played Monopoly, which Lenny had seen on the
shelf. We had some and cakes and lemonade
while we were playing; but I had only one eye on
my Monopoly moves—the other eye was on the
clock all the time. I was getting 'c'I'_‘C impgti “t for the
game to finish, lvttaiise it l()()l{t‘(l .15 ifI. .z‘v. c< ‘ xxl. ’
still be there when they mine up from ilk‘ . s'. ‘.0=*. I did
some really bad moves so that I could lose quickly. but
it’s very difficult to hurry up Monopoly. as you
may know.
'5-Hi‘!

5.
4»!
/7: In the end I did sucli btuplkl. tlllIl£‘, b~ lilu. i. -st‘/ in.
I ‘
l.
we
'_) l: ‘«‘H= —_ uni lling Peal-’ l. ,.m<’ . mrl lh/ if! "/F. "IiT til,
p 2 ‘ Q t V is . .
I A g. .nn. . He must have noticed what I was doing,
but he didnt say anything to me. Iiitrriccily, T i. Z.—nH
his birthday card. He pretended not to take very much
riouee of it, but he put it in his shirt, and kept feeling it
to make sure it was still there. At least, that’s what I
thought he was making sure about, there inside his shirt.
It was just the right time to say goodbye, and I’m just
thinking he can go without anyone seeing him, when my
sister came in. She had run up from the shop for
something or other, and she put her head inside the
room. At some other time, I would have laughed out
loud at her stupid face. When she saw Lenny, she looked
as if she’d opened the door and seen something really
unpleasant. I could gladly have given her a good kick.
She shut the door a lot quicker than she opened it, and I
ivelt really bad about it.
“Nice to meet you, ” Lenny joked, but his face said
he wanted to go, too, and I wasn’t going to be the one
to stop him.
I let him out, and I heaved a big sigh. I felt good
about being kind to him, the way you do when yotfve
done a sponsored swim, and I’d done it without my
mum and dad frowning at me about who I brought
home. Only Nalini had seen him, and everyone knows
she can make things seem worse than they are. I washed
the glasses, and I can remember singing while I stood at
the sink. I was ‘Feeling very pleased with myself.
1

6.
My good feeling lasted about fifteen minutes; just
long enough to be wearing off slightly. Then Nalini
came in again and destroyed it altogether.
“Prakash, have you seen that envelope that was on the
television top? ” she asked. “I put it on here when I came
in from school. ”
“No, ” I said. It was very soon to be getting worried,
but things inside me were turning over like clothes in
a washing machine. I knew already where all this
was going to end up. “What was in it? ” My voice
sounded to me as if it was coming from a great
distance.
She was looking everywhere in the room, but she kept
coming back to the television top as if the envelope
would mysteriously appear there. She stood there
now, staring at me. “lW7at was in it? What was in it was
only a Postal Order for five pounds! Money for my
school trip! ”
“What does it look like? ” I asked, but I think we both
knew that I was only stalling. We both knew where it
had gone.
“It’s a white piece of paper in a brown envelope. It
says ‘Postal Order’ on it, in red. ”
My washing machine inside nearly went into a
fast spin when I heard that. It was certainly Lenny’s
Red-Letter Day! But how could he be so ungrateful,
I thought, when I was the only one to be kind to him?
I clenched my list while I pretended to look around. I
wanted to punch him hard on the nose.

7.
Then Nalini said what was in both our minds. “It’s
that dirty kid who’s got it. I‘m going down to tell Dad.
I don’t know what makes you so stupid. ”
Right at that moment I didn’t know what. made me
so stupid, either, as to leave him up there on his own.
I should have known. Dido’: Miss Banks once say
something about leopards never changing their spots?
When the shop closed, there was an awful business in
the room. My dad was shouting-angry at me, and my
mum couldn’t think of anything good to say.
“You know where this boy lives, ” my dad said. “Tell
me now, while I telephone the police. There’s only one
way of dealing with this sort of thing. If I go up there,
I shall only get a mouthful of abuse. As if it isn’t bad
enough for you to see me losing things out of the shop,
you have to bring people upstairs! ”
My mum saw how unhappy I was, and she tried to
make things better. “Can’t you cancel the Postal Order? ”
she asked him.
“Of course not. Even if he hasn’t had the time to cash
it somewhere else by now, how long do you think the
Post Oflice would let me be Sub-Postmaster if I did that
sort of thing? ”
I was feeling very bad for all of us, but the thought of
the police calling at Lenny’s house was making me feel
worse.
“I’ll get it back, ” I said. “Hi go to his house. It's only
along the road from the school. And if I don’t get it back,
I can get the exact nutnbe: of where he lives. Then you

8.
mg k I had never spoken to my dad
1% hdhte, but I was all shaky inside, and all
me tamed a t place to me that evening.
Idih"tg'we2nybodyadnnceto argue with me. I ran
srrzﬁoutoftheroornanddownto the street.
@et of Lenny before I got to his
house didsft come to All too quickly I was
there, had: his broken gate and walking up the
cracked path to his front door. There wasn’t a door
knocker, Iﬁappedtheletterhox, andIstarted to think
my dad was right. The éolice would have been better
doing this than me.
I had never seen his mother before, only heard about
her from other kids who lived near. ‘When she opened
the door, I could see she was a small lady with a tight
mouth and eym that said, “Who are you? ” and “Go away
from here! ” at the same time.
She opened die door only a little bit, ready to slam it
onmalhadtobequiclr.
“Is in, please? ” I asked her.
She said, “whmk it to you? ”
5‘ 7
es 2 fnend of mme, ” I told her. “Can I see him,
She made a face as if she had something nasty in her
mouth. she shouted. “COME HERE! ”
down the passage, like one of
those scared animals in a circus. He kept his eyes on her
hands, once he’d seen who it was at the door. There
wcrcrft any furmy remarks coming from M I

9.
She ierked her head at me. “How many times have 1
mid you not to bring kids to the house? ” she shouted at
him. She made it sound as if she was accusing him of a
crime.
Lenny had nothing to say. She was hanging over him
like a vulture about to fix its talons into a rabbit. It
so out of place that it didn’t seem real. Then it
to me that it could be play-acting—the two of
He had given her the five pounds, and she was
this on to get rid of me quickly.
But suddenly she slammed the door so hard in my
I could see how the glass in it came to be broken.
“Well, I dorft want kids coming to my door! ” she
shouted at him on the other side. “Breaking the gate,
i ‘ at die windows, wearing out the path. How can I
&is place nice when I’m forever dragging to the
hit dien, I know she did. There was no play-
. about the bang as a foot hit the door, and Lenny
_ ‘3l. .:rm out loud as if a desk lid had come down on his
But I didn’t stop to hear any more. I’d heard
-an-be: -age to aim my stomach sick. Poor Lenny-——I’d been
ahout my mum and dad seeing him——and look
15%: when his mother saw me! She had to be
that woman. And Lenny had to live with her!
i didrft feel like crying, although my eyes had a hot
using in More than anything, I just wanted to
at home with my own family and the door shut
tgzt.

11.
“Mum Found it. In all the after you went
out she lmoclted the box off the chair, and when she
picked the bits up, there was the Postal Order. ”
“l't’s oertainly a good job you said nothing about it, ”
my dad said. “And a good job I didn’t telephone the
We should have looked very small. ”
All I could think was how small I had just felt,
standing at Lenny’s slammed door and hearing what his
mother had said to him. And what about him getting
beaten for having a friend call at his house?
My dad tried to be cheerful. “Anyway, who won? ’ he
asked
“Lenny won the Monopoly, ” I said.
In bed that night, I lay awake a long time,
about it all. Lenny had taken some hard punishment
from his mother. Some Red-Letter Day it had turned out
no be! He would bear some hard thoughts about Pnhsh
Patel.
He didn’t come to school for a long time after that.
But when he did, my heart sank into my boots. He came
straight across the playground, the same Happy sleeves
and dragging trouser bottoms, the same long. tangled
hair-—and he came straight for me. What would he do?
Hit me? Spit in my face?
As he got close, I saw what was on his shirt. pinned
there like a medal. It was his birthday
‘‘It’s a good game, that Monopolyt” he said out of the
corner of his mouth. It was as if he was trying to tell me
something.

12.
0 BERNARD ASHLEY 0
“Yes. ” I said. “It’s a good game all right. ”
I hadn’t got the guts to tell him that I’d gone straight
home that night and thrown it in the dustbin. Dealings
with houses didn’t appeal to me anymore.